Success for Maya

Three years ago I took a very controversial - and in some quarters highly unpopular - decision to relocate the children who were in the care of The Esther Benjamins Trust from rural Bhairahawa in the southwest of the country to Kathmandu. Although this increased our running costs significantly, my reasoning was that the transfer was very much in the best interests of the children, presenting them with opportunities that they would not otherwise enjoy in the comparative backwoods of Rupendehi District.

Since then the children's academic progress has improved dramatically but on top of that, three athletic kids, two boys and a girl, attend daily training at the National Stadium before going to school. The boys, Aman and Bijay, are now number one and two in gymnastics in Nepal, while the girl, Maya, has become an accomplished distance runner. All are former circus children.

Today Maya came first in an inter school running tournament, completing 3km in 13 minutes 25 seconds. She picked up a medal, a certificate and 3000 rupees (about £25) the latter equating to almost a month's wages in Nepal for an adult and certainly more than the monthly income of her impoverished father. Maya is such a self-effacing little girl that this will come as a great boost to her growing confidence. She's not good at smiling for the camera though, a common trait in Nepalese people who seem to spend all of the rest of their time smiling.